English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Robusto

01:00

@RegDwight — I'd say they are related, but not necessarily exact dupes. This one is broader in one sense (the other asks specifically about square brackets), yet more detailed (it gives examples whereas the other doesn't). Kosmonaut's answer to the question you linked would be responsive to either one, though. Does being answerable by a response to a closely related question make a question duplicative?

@Martha: Regarding your comment to my answer to the question under discussion: yes, I've seen that usage as well, but my profs always frowned on it. Well, I majored in English as an undergrad, so I always had to go the extra mile for style points.

Robusto

01:14

I see your gravatar, @Martha ... you can't hide from me.

Martha

Sorry, watching TV.

Like I said, I agree that stylistically it's better to reword so that the quote+explanation remains grammatical.

Martha

01:29

Now who's hiding? :D

Martha

02:09

OK, this is NOT actually Martha here. I can't figure out how to log out of English Language and Usage. I think I managed to log my sister off of Stack Overflow -- I found a "logout" button in the middle of a page somewhere -- but there doesn't seem to be an analogue on EL&U. Help?!?

kiamlaluno

There isn't a "log out" link on EL&U.

Martha

OK, so does this mean that just because my sister has visited the site using my computer, I can't establish my own presence here?

kiamlaluno

Delete the cookies for english.SE; in that way, you should be asked to log in.

Robusto

02:26

@Martha: (@Martha's sister) Just go to the profile and hit the "log out" link, which you'll find on the same line as "Registered User" except over to the right by the bio box.

@kiamlaluno — Yes, there is. See above.

Martha

"go to the profile". Um. HOW?

Robusto

0

Q: Is English becoming easier or harder to learn?

As we all know, English is evolving. Constructs considered repugnant 100 years ago are widely-accepted today. Thousands of words in our vocabulary have fallen into disuse while thousands more have been adopted. My question: is English becoming easier to learn or harder? This is especially rel...

Whoa there, pardner. That's about as subjective and argumentative as they come.

kiamlaluno

@Martha: The username that appears on the top of the page is a link to the user profile, like it is on SO.

Robusto

@Martha — Click the word "Martha" next to the little envelope at the extreme top of the page, right in the middle.

There will be her reputation score right next to it, followed by her badges.

Martha

@kiamlaluno, @Robusto: there was a line with her name and stuff up there on whatever page I got to chat from, but it's not there now. Do I have to leave chat to find it again?

Robusto

02:33

Yes

Alternatively you could open another tab.

Martha

aaack, just 'cause I hit "enter" doesn't mean I want to "send"! I just wanted another line! There are a LOT of things about this interface that I'm finding completely and utterly unintuitive and impossible.

Robusto

It grows on you. What's your name, btw, so we don't have to keep calling you Martha. It seems a little weird to be doing so.

It doesn't have to be your real name.

kiamlaluno

(I hope somebody doesn't think kiamlaluno is my real name.)

Robusto

It is totally your real name.

kiamlaluno

That is why I write first my last name, and then my first name; in that way I write "idiot totally", and not "totally idiot".

Martha

02:40

Dunno if this'll work, 'cause I finally found her real profile page (as opposed to the chat one, which doesn't link back to non-chat, that I could find) and I think succesfully logged her out... I'm Julia.

Robusto

Hi Julia.

If you're talking in chat, though, you're still logged in as her.

I suggest closing the browser entirely and opening it again, then coming back here and seeing if you're still signed in as your sister.

Martha

@Robusto: gah, like I said about non-intuitiveness... I think I'll write up a list of stuff that needs improvement. Right after I convince my daughter that seven-month-olds ought to be asleep at this hour.

Robusto

Well, good luck with that battle. When my kids were that age they protested mightily at bedtime.

And there is something about a baby crying that just won't let you relax.

kiamlaluno

There is an Italian joke about what to say to a child who doesn't stop to cry.

Robusto

You mean a child who doesn't stop crying? "Stop to cry" means something entirely different: it means the child does cry.

kiamlaluno

02:51

That's what I mean; if the child is not crying, then you would not say anything.

Robusto

11

A: Is it easy to spot an educated non-native speaker on a website like this?

It really depends on how fluent the speaker is. True fluency in a foreign language is extremely difficult to achieve and should not be underestimated. I've discussed this in another context, giving one man's opinion about what a test for genuine fluency would entail. That said, it is easier to b...

kiamlaluno

I remember the answer. The assumption that European people don't use I when they should use me is not right.

I know an American who never said I when she should have said me.

Robusto

03:07

I was trying to nudge you toward the "misuse of the infinitive" section.

Martha

testing... It's still showing Martha's bit-o-whitevine picture next to the chat input, despite multiple attempts at logging her out on this computer. What name will it stick next to this message?

Gah. Do I need to find a separete logout button for chat? If so, where on earth is it hidden?

Robusto

Looks like @Martha to me. Are you sure you're not really Martha, Julia?

kiamlaluno

There is the "leave (all)" link.

Robusto

Did you try clicking the "leave" link above the row of icons on the right?

Jinx!

kiamlaluno

Is that a type of Gremlin?

Robusto

03:12

Jinx?

kiamlaluno

Flick-flock?

Robusto

I think you need to study harder for your Turing test, @kiamlaluno.

kiamlaluno

Turning test?

She left.

@Martha: Before you ask, it's still "Martha" the nick I see.

Martha

I tried to leave. If I go to english.stackexchange.com now, it doesn't show Martha, but as soon as I come back to chat, it shows her picture again.

And again. I'm going to try closing the browser again.

AAAH!

I can't even create my own account: if I click "login", it logs me in as Martha!

HEEELLLP!

kiamlaluno

Delete the cookies, and you will not log in as Martha.

Martha

03:44

(This is the real Martha) Sorry, sis. Dunno how to convince your computer that you're not me, other than the above-mentioned "delete cookies" suggestion.

Funny thing is, your computer occasionally logs me off chat without any intervention on my part.

kiamlaluno

The other suggestion would be "use a different browser". :-)

Martha

I'm very close to giving up. I mean, I know we're twins, but that shouldn't matter to the friggin computer!

@kiamlaluno, what browser would you suggest?

kiamlaluno

@Martha: Any browser would work; the important is that the browser you use is not the same browser your sister uses.

Martha

I've deleted every cookie associated with the word 'stack'. Doesn't help. When I open Firefox and go to EL&U, it logs me in as Martha, and I can't stop it.

kiamlaluno

As for which browser to use, that depends on the operating system your computer is using.

Martha

03:53

Juli, go to EL&U (the actual site, not chat). Click my name up at the top. Look next to Registered User to where it says "log out". Click it.

I've done that about twelve or fourteen times, now.

In fact, I just tried the "log out everywhere" button. It does nothing.

As soon as I click "chat", and choose the EL&U room, your icon shows up again, and I'm you.

Try the "log out everywhere" again, then CLOSE THE BROWSER.

kiamlaluno

@Martha: Without cookies, it should not be logging you as Martha. It's possible it autocompletes the login with your credentials. If it actually logs in without to show the fields to enter username, and password, then there is something else that does the job (a plug-in, etc.).

Martha

(I'm also going to log out, just to make sure it's not me keeping things open.)

Wait, before I do that: Juli, have you clicked "leave" in the chat? Right above the row of icons on the right.

Multiple times.

I'm going to leave, log out, close browser, and put Julianna in bed. Then I'll give it one last try.

Juli, I just tried logging out of everywhere, and after clicking "log out everywhere", it gave me an option to "destroy credentials". Have you seen that/tried that?

JPmiaou

04:43

Finally... Some combination of both of us logging out and clearing my cache, history, and cookies finally convinced the darn thing that I'm not Martha.

Remind me to never, ever, ever use stackexchange on a public computer. Ever.

Oh, and no, I did not see anything like "destroy credentials." Sounds nasty and irrevocable.

Martha

For what it's worth, I've now logged out of every single stackexchange site that I've ever visited, and it still hasn't logged me out of chat.

Is the child sleeping?

Martha

05:27

0

A: Can't log out of chat

The logout pages for the chat sites are located at: http://chat.stackexchange.com/logout <--You want this one http://chat.meta.stackoverflow.com/logout http://chat.stackoverflow.com/logout http://chat.serverfault.com/logout http://chat.superuser.com/logout These links are not accessible fro...

Thanks, @waiwai933.

JPmiaou

Yes, child is (knock on wood) currently sleeping. She fell asleep with about an ounce left in the bottle I finally ended up giving her. (Which reminds me, that means I need to go make more bottles so there'll be one for the morning.)

Martha

I would love to know what the magic combination was that finally got me logged off of your computer.

JPmiaou

05:45

Whoever designed stackexchange had a very different concept of "login" and "logout" than the rest of the internet. The login pages ought to come with scarily-typeset warnings about never, ever, ever logging in on a public computer, unless you want everyone else at the library to be able to masquerade as you.

Martha

I wonder if me having chat open & active was what was messing things up.

It can't have been the fact that I was logged in on this computer, because I'm logged in on the work computer as well.

But chat is different somehow - it has to be, to show things real-time.

JPmiaou

06:13

The thing is, I was closing the entire browser between tries, so chat wasn't open. Or I guess you had it open but weren't looking at it?

Martha

@JPmiaou Yes, exactly.

Jeff Atwood has posted a rather, um, unhelpful "answer" to my question on meta. I wonder if I should feel honored.

(It looks to me like a classic case of answering a "how do you do X on Windows" question with "use Linux instead". Which I thought was frowned upon.)

JPmiaou

06:28

On to other unintuitivity features of this site... There's currently a circle with a number 1 in it at the top right corner of my icon. What on earth does it mean?

Martha

It means you have a new chat message directed at you. It should've disappeared as soon as you entered your comment.

There are two ways to address a chat to someone: either type @ followed by their username, or if it's a reply to a particular chat, point at the message in question and click the little arrow at the bottom right.

[In other news, mother is apparently unable to tell apart her new white-background-red-flowers nightgown from my green-background-pink-flowers nightgown.]

JPmiaou

Pattern recognition? What pattern recognition?

What are the things with the black stars at the right of the chat screen?

Martha

Starred messages: things that other people found interesting, or funny, or whatever.

JPmiaou

Two of 'em are you. Is that unusual?

Martha

Point at a message and look at the bottom right corner (right next to the arrow for replying) to star a message.

@JPmiaou Nah, just means I've been wasting too much time here.

JPmiaou

06:40

Is there as actual FAQ around somewhere (as opposed to the ToS document that's currently there)? Something that explains why some questions have the number of answers in a green square, for example?

Martha

Green square = accepted answer.

JPmiaou

What does "accepted" mean in this context?

Martha

It means the asker has marked the green checkmark on a particular answer, saying in effect "this is what worked for me".

JPmiaou

Two of your chat posts above have a little diagonal um, something (pencil??) next to them. What is that?

Martha

I've edited them.

Point at one of your messages and click the down arrow on the left to get options, including edit.

(There's a time limit on editing, but I don't know what it is.)

JPmiaou

06:47

Is there some way to get a line break in chat without sending the first line? "Enter" shouldn't equal "send"!

Martha

Actually, 'Enter' does equal 'send' in every chat interface I've ever met.

JPmiaou

Shows how often I chat...

Martha

chat.stackexchange.com/faq

There doesn't seem to be a way to put linebreaks in chat.

JPmiaou

Drat, crying.

Martha

Weh.

JPmiaou

06:59

Turned her on her side facing the wall. Maybe she'll be less sensitive to the lightning that way. Turned on the heater -- the white noise may help with the thunder and pouring rain.

Martha

Storm hasn't gotten here yet.

JPmiaou

I really should go to bed. I'm so tired I'm forgetting to do so.

Martha

Ditto.

JPmiaou

jóéjszakát.

Martha

On the count of three?

Eldros

09:25

@JPmiaou, atcually there is a way to do it. Just press shift and enter simultaneously. That's a kind of soft enter, like that:
It always helps when enter is assigned to a submitting action, and it often happens.

So returning into passive mode.

Of course, thanks to the interface, the fact that enter submit the message is not much of a problem, as messages are always grouped together when submitted in a short enough interval.

It permits to parse the discourse into its different elements.

6 mins ago, by Eldros

So returning into passive mode.

RegDwight

10:48

@Robusto It's a judgment call.

See e.g. here

4

Q: "Close as duplicate" - what if only the answer is a duplicate?

I know it's already established that duplicate questions should be closed but not deleted, so they can act as "pointers" to the one canonical answer. However, I think there's one important aspect that is usually glossed over: lately I've run into a number of instances where questions have been ...

discussion close-reasons policy

Eldros

10:58

I'm bored

RegDwight

No work? Or are you bored because of work?

Eldros

Oh, I have work

But I can't say I'm bored because of it either

Maybe indifferent would describe my state of mind better

RegDwight

I'm just tired. Oscar night.

Eldros

Oh, that's right. How did it go?

1

Q: Software to detect grammar, syntax and form errors

I am a non-native english speaker. I usually write scientific technical reports which need to be in "order", in terms of grammar, english, etc. Thanks to Microsoft Word, I can correct some type of obvious mistakes, but some other more complicated grammar errors or problems are not detected by suc...

grammar syntax formality grammar-checker

I may be wrong, but isn't it off-topic or at least meta material?

RegDwight

I think it's a question for Super User.

Robusto

11:12

@RegDwight — A "judgment call" is the euphemism sports announcers use to mean "mistake" when a sports official blows a call.

And my question was rhetorical.

RegDwight

Fair enough. I'm just pointing out possible duplication of effort.

Robusto

13:51

Well, The King's Speech overachieved last night, didn't it? Americans do love a lord, as some smart person once observed.

RegDwight

Yeah, that was kind of unexpected.

Robusto

@Eldros — Voted to close.

RegDwight

Everybody was like Social network here, and Social network there.

Robusto

@RegDwight — Nah, the smart money was on that movie right from the git-go.

Most critics here put it as a mortal lock.

RegDwight

Well, smart is kind of an antonym to everybody, innit?

Robusto

13:55

Ayup.

Read what Christopher Hitchens has to say about the "history" exhibited in that film:

slate.com/id/2285695

Oops, read this one first: slate.com/id/2282194

RegDwight

Argh, I'm halfway through the first one already...

Robusto

"In point of fact, Churchill was—for as long as he dared—a consistent friend of conceited, spoiled, Hitler-sympathizing Edward VIII. And he allowed his romantic attachment to this gargoyle to do great damage to the very dearly bought coalition of forces that was evolving to oppose Nazism and appeasement."

No, you're halfway through the second one, thanks to my blunder. Sorry.

RegDwight

Well, um, I guess it's called Original Screenplay for a reason.

Robusto

Hehe.

A much better film (and book) about the same period is, of course, The Remains of the Day.

Same general topic, too.

Except it shed no tears for the poor, poor little king who couldn't talk vewy well.

Robusto

14:45

@RegDwight — Please, don't speak to me of "duplication of effort". Just at the moment I happen to be trying to figure out why a bunch of stuff doesn't work right in IE, and that's a sore subject with me.

Except I guess it shouldn't be. What I'm experiencing right now is more like triplication or quadruplication of effort.

RegDwight

@Robusto Ha! So you are using IE after all. Congrats!

Robusto

No, I'm not using it. I'm developing for it.

IE is the troll under the bridge to UI efficiency.

RegDwight

I am still contemplating whether I should go for the cheap joke that quadruplication of zero is still zero.

It would be so funny, whaddaya think?

Robusto

"He jests at scars that never felt a wound."

RegDwight

That's not an answer.

Robusto

15:00

I guess it was funnier when Shakespeare said it.

Anyway, what was the question?

RegDwight

Yea, I laughed several of my body parts off.

Robusto

Only useless ones, I hope.

RegDwight

The question was, how incredibly funny you would deem that ingenious joke to be.

Robusto

I thought it was "whaddya think?" See, cuz, like, the question mark came right after that clause.

RegDwight

Ah rats, you're right.

Robusto

15:03

And in that case, what I think was adequately expressed and did, in fact, constitute an answer.

RegDwight

If I were thinking in Shakespeare quotes, I would be seeing a doctor about it.

That's what IE will do to you.

Robusto

I'd rather see a doctor about IE. Maybe get some kind of pills I could take.

RegDwight

I would recommend jagged and little. Also, ironic.

Robusto

Meh, never been a fan of Alanis Morisette.

@Martha, did your sister finally get her computer sorted out after you trashed it for her?

Martha

@Robusto I didn't trash it! Hmph. But yes, we finally convinced stackoverflow that we're two different people.

There are lots of "that word doesn't mean what you think it means" things about the whole login/logout system. "Unintuitive" just... doesn't do it justice.

For example, "log out everywhere" doesn't. Or at least not for any sense of "everywhere" I've ever used.

Robusto

15:10

You're so picky.

RegDwight

@Martha I think it's only since Jeff fell in love with those unkillable HTML5 übercookies.

codinghorror.com/blog/2010/11/breaking-the-webs-cookie-jar.html

Robusto

When I use the word "everywhere" it means "everywhere I personally care about, and to hell with the rest."

Martha

Jeff is very much in love with his login/logout system, so much so that he can't look at it impartially.

8 hours ago, by Martha

Jeff Atwood has posted a rather, um, unhelpful "answer" to my question on meta. I wonder if I should feel honored.

Robusto

Legitimate question or exercise in chutzpah?

0

Q: Interjections / exclamations in English

What are the interjections / exclamations commonly used in English (e.g. aha, wow, eh, etc.)? I'd appreciate if you can provide me with a full list with the meaning of each term.

list-request interjections exclamations

I'm tempted to ask if he'd like fries with that ... but I'm too nice.

Martha

Given that it's demonstrably answerable with a single link to Wikipedia, perhaps we ought to close it as "general reference". ]:)

Also, given his rep, I'd have to say he meant it as a legitimate question, but ...

Robusto

15:20

Wow, and he criticized his only reply as being "too much"! "Thanks but this is too much (needing too many clicks; not user-friendly). I need a single page containing only the commonly used ones with the meaning next to each item. "

"Very sorry, sir! I'll get right on that. And how would you like them sorted, sir?"

2

RegDwight

Well, OmegaWiki would be the place to look.

Martha

Um. Yeah. I don't know how to respond to that comment. (of the OP's).

Hey sis!

... she's either reading older posts, or she's ignoring me. :/

JPmiaou

I had to catch up to know what y'all were talking about!
And thanks for the shift-enter tip, whoever it was.

Robusto

Is @JPmiaou the sister of @Martha?

Martha

@RegDwight and @FX_ et al, y'all closed the grammar-checker question without any sort of explanatory comment. Not very friendly.

@Robusto, ayup. We're so alike that we had trouble convincing stackexchange that we're not the same person.

Robusto

15:34

@Martha — I blame @RegDwight.

RegDwight

I haven't left a comment that it belongs on SuperUser, because just see for yourself what happens to a question on which you leave a comment that it belongs on SuperUser:

1

Q: Firefox plugin for English learners

Could you please help find a plug-in for Firefox that supports the following functions: Showing translation of a word by a simple shortcut (like Shift + Right click). Allowing to modify list of dictionaries (by giving links to web dictionaries). Storing the words into personal vocabulary for...

learning vocabulary

It stays open forever.

Martha

It is a fairly ancient question, as this site goes. We apparently had trouble closing questions in the olden days. (Voted to close now.)

RegDwight

What really surprises me is that the SSD question hasn't been closed yet.

Martha

SSD?

RegDwight

1

Q: Is it "a SSD" or "an SSD"?

Since SSD (solid-state drive) is pronounced es-es-dee, I'm wondering whether one should write "an SSD" or "a SSD". Saying "a SSD" out loud feels a bit off...

writing terminology

Martha

15:42

Put in my vote.

You can't blame the OP, though: it's really hard to find a/an questions given that the search specifically ignores those words.

@JPmiaou, how did my niece sleep after the whole thunderstorm thing?

RegDwight

@Martha Hence my comment. 'Yes, the search is broken in that regard. Entirely not your fault. What I can recommend instead is having a look at the "faq" tab under "Questions", or googling using the "site:" operator.'

JPmiaou

@Martha, she got up way too early by my definition, but she didn't wake between times. I hope she repeats the feat tonight. And tomorrow night. And...

Martha

@JPmiaou Yeah, good luck with that. :p

JPmiaou

You keep talking about how search works. I haven't even figured out where search is.

RegDwight

JPmiaou

15:54

@RegDwight Oh, that tiny thing. Is there a fuller search page somewhere? One that explains about ignoring "an", for example?

RegDwight

Don't enter anything in that field, just hit Enter.

You'll be presented with a help page.

JPmiaou

This site is absolutely chock-full of mystery meat navigation and display. How am I supposed to find out about entering a blank search for help? Do it by accident, in frustration?

Martha

Ok, I really have to go do something more closely resembling work. See y'all.

RegDwight

@JPmiaou That's just a shortcut.

There is a link to that help page on every single search results page.

Anyhow, back to the list of ignored words, I don't think they are documented anywhere.

By which I mean, I don't think they are expressly listed anywhere. Them's just the 10,000 most common words, whatever that means.

6

A: SO sites don't search for common words

They're called stop words. One of our major performance optimizations for the “related questions” query is removing the top 10,000 most common English dictionary words (as determined by Google search) before submitting the query to the SQL Server 2008 full text engine. It’s shocking how lit...

Robusto

That's why practically every Google search I do is surrounded with quotes. And even that fails too often.

Google has adopted some kind of "gentleman's quote" policy where they are free to ignore words in quotes if they so choose.

JPmiaou

16:05

@Robusto They keep making software that thinks it's smarter than the user.

@RegDwight A lot of this stuff ought to be in the FAQ. What's currently there is what I'd expect to find on an "About" or "Terms and Policies" page. There's nothing about using the site, or interpreting what's displayed (what are all these numbers? Why are some of them in green boxes?

RegDwight

@JPmiaou Try hovering over stuff. More often than not, everything's explained right there.

JPmiaou

Oops, gotta go, child's waking.

RegDwight

16:24

Oh, just noticed that the week is over...

Robusto

What week?

RegDwight

I see that you haven't noticed just yet... You will very soon.

Robusto

16:44

Bah, I have only contempt for weekness.

Seriously, what week?

And why would I notice?

RegDwight

Look at the one-week old starred posts.

Robusto

Why would I care about that?

RegDwight

Who said you should?

You keep asking me questions.

Robusto

Love-15.

Still your serve.

Have you never seen or read this?

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is an absurdist, existentialist tragicomedy by Tom Stoppard, first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1966. The play expands upon the exploits of two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet, the courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The action of Stoppard's play takes place mainly 'in the wings' of Shakespeare's, with brief appearances of major characters from Hamlet who enact fragments of the original's scenes. Between these episodes the two protagonists voice their confusion at the progress of events of which—occurring onstage withou...

RegDwight

Never heard of it.

Robusto

16:56

Hiatus maxime deflendus.

RegDwight

I'm a bit tired of absurdist stuff right now. Have been reading too much lately.

Martha

Ah, the lightbulb just came on for me: our favorite user is about to come off of suspension.

RegDwight

About to come off? More like full steam ahead already.

Martha

Is he?

Do I dare look?

RegDwight

Well, it took him like 18 minutes to get his first downvote. (Not mine.)

Martha

17:03

It's not actually that bad a question. For him.

RegDwight

Which of the two?

Martha

The one with the downvote.

RegDwight

Well, it's not like he isn't entertaining.

Oh! Gotta go. TTYL.

Rhodri

17:33

I wouldn't mind, but he's doing the infinite extension edits again.

Didn't we do gendered nouns a while ago? With him?

Ah, found a better duplicate.

Sadly I don't have the rep to vote for closure.

JPmiaou

In other news: the child is creeping. Backwards. She's almost out the door of the study.

Robusto

17:53

Not bad. You going to let her keep going?

JPmiaou

I need to go install the gate at the top of the stairs.

Palimondo

Hi! I'm not a native english speaker. I am writing short "about me" description for my personal page. Can someone help me review my text for correct English?

Robusto

@Palimondo — Sorry, that's not the function of this site.

Palimondo

OK, can you recommend a place, where would such a request be appropriate?

Robusto

I don't know of one offhand, sorry.

RegDwight

18:02

Isn't Writers now accepting stuff for peer review? <ducks>

Robusto

0

Q: Could you name some numbers that have a special meaning in English, like 666?

The question "What does the term “86'd” relate to?" made me wonder what similar cases we have in English. I'd like to know some other numbers that have a commonly understood meaning beyond their use as a mere number. I have seen "666" used many times with a special meaning. It is written on fenc...

usage meaning idioms colloquial catch-phrases

Whoa, baby.

0

Q: Tommorow Spring :D Yeap)

Tommorow Spring :DD Hey,I really love spring - some birthday, and my birthday-love it)) And wthatz about you? Love spring? :)

words

Palimondo

@RegDwight ;-) Thier char rooms are deserted, and quick look at questions there does not support that notion...

Robusto

A veritable poster child for why posts get closed.

RegDwight

Hey @Robusto, I dunno if you know any Russian, so I'll let you in on a secret. In Russian, the number 7 stays for luck. 3, 12 and 40 have special meaning, too. I know I'm blowing your mind too hard, so I'll pause for a second.

Palimondo

Thier = their

Robusto

18:06

I don't think 007 was too lucky for your people in From Russia With Love.

RegDwight

@Palimondo You can edit your stuff here. Just hover over your post, and klick on the arrow that appears on the left hand side.

@Palimondo I was sort of joking about Writers. And sort of not.

12

Q: Policy change: Writing critique questions now welcome

We had a long, long discussion about this internally, and we've decided that writing critique questions are officially on-topic. In retrospect, the idea that a site about writing doesn't allow talking about writing (except in the rather narrow context of objective question examples) was, uh, a b...

discussion faq critique

Palimondo

@RegDwight I did that, but I can only "flag for moderator"

Rhodri

@Palimondo: we are but humble peons, we cannot take our words back :-)

Robusto

@RegDwight — Is there no depth to which you will not stoop? A Russian co-worker said there no particular significance attaches to those numbers.

Robusto

18:31

@RegDwight — I don't think I'm going to go within a country mile of that site.

Rhodri

18:47

-1

Q: What is the tipping point for Non Sequiturs?

What is the point at which a Non Sequitur morphs into the incongruous?

usage

It's not an entirely stupid question, I just don't know what to make of it.

Martha

My niece is creepy! Tee hee! :)

1 hour ago, by JPmiaou

In other news: the child is creeping. Backwards. She's almost out the door of the study.

@Rhodri Yeah, I don't know either. Is he wondering what the borderline is between "funny non-sequitur" and "head-scratching non-sequitur"? If so, it's not really an answerable question.

Rhodri

@Martha I seem to have just been downvoted on that. I wonder if he thinks I'm the one who downvoted the question?

@Palimondo Aha. We can take back our words, but only if we're quick enough. The "edit" button disappears after a bit.

Robusto

@Rhodri — I upticked you to keep things balanced.

Martha

@Rhodri I don't see a downvote on his rep chart, so no, it doesn't look like it.

Robusto

@Martha — Oh, I'm sure we don't have to mention this, but ... no thwacking the niece, even if she accidentally makes a pun.

Martha

19:02

No, I just eat the niece. Her ears, in particular, are quite tasty.

Rhodri

Nice niece.

Templar

how i can change sentence "Why don't you go to the doctor?" to "If ...............................go to the doctor" instead ... i need to use word would and something more

maybe If I were you I would go to the doctor?

Martha

@Templar That sounds perfectly fine to me.

Templar

ok thanks

Martha

Well, without the question mark:
*If I were you, I would go to the doctor.*

Templar

19:06

ah ye i added by mistake

Rhodri

Got to run. Committees to sleep in, I mean sit on.

Martha

@Rhodri Lucky guy, gets to sleep.

Robusto

Ah, crap, I think I just got scammed.

0

Q: Why are fishermen(women) referred to as 'Anglers'?

I teach fishing, at a local community college - recently was awarded a Master Baiter honorary certificate, and one of my students asked me "Why are fisherman called Anglers"? I floundered around for a few minutes but could not come up with a conclusive answer - help?

etymology

I didn't notice the Master Baiter statement until after answering ...

Martha

19:27

Can we edit out the extraneous detail to make it into a definitely-serious question, or would that be a bit too much editing?

Robusto

I don't know. I'd say it's up to a mod to do that.

I flagged it, we'll see if one is lurking about here.

FX_

hi

Martha

@FX_ Greetings!

FX_

@Martha I tried to give a serious answer to the non seqitur question, I welcome any comment or criticism

Martha

I'm looking at it now.

Just one grammar nit to pick: In a series of collected non sequiturs, they would not being incongruous... I think you meant be, not being.

Also, there's a comic strip called Non Sequitur, but it doesn't always obey its name - it has recurring characters and occasional storylines.

Palimondo

19:34

Hmmm... I'm struggling writing this: "Values simple, thoughtful design and high production values."

... as in "He values..." Is that "values" repetition too bad?

FX_

@Martha you're right

@Marta also, I've noticed you going to edit my posts, correcting my grammar mistakes, making me look all well-educated :)

Martha

@Palimondo Try starting the sentence with "Prizes" or "Appreciates".

Palimondo

@Martha Thank you!

I appreciate!

Martha

@FX_ Yeah, well, we've got to keep up appearances around here. :p

Palimondo

Is the comma in that ^^ sentence placed correctly?

Martha

19:41

@Palimondo Yes: the things valued/prized are [simple & thoughtful design] and [high production values]. It might be slightly clearer as Prizes high production values and simple, thoughtful design, or Prizes simple, thoughtful design, as well as high production values, but that's getting seriously nitpicky, even for me.

FX_

upon realizing that vgv8 is back, I check if he made any comment on meta about his suspension

and because he did not, I checked in twitter page, but...

twitter.com/#!/vgv8

“Hold up! Sorry, the profile you are trying to view has been suspended.”

now, that is fun

Martha

I didn't know Twitter can suspend users.

FX_

@Martha I knew, but I've only heard about it for high-profile accounts repeatedly publishing legally reprehensible content

we had the case of a politician pushing negationist tweets, here in France :(

Palimondo

@Martha Wow. Thank you! It really is better.

@Martha Do you know where I could find help to review my short personal page (3 paragraphs)? I'm sure that, as non-native speaker, I have filled it with similarly questionable language.

Martha

@Palimondo I'm told that critiques have been deemed on-topic for writers.stackexchange.com, so you could try there. (For best results, read their FAQ first, so you don't accidentally step on any toes.)

Palimondo

19:56

@Martha OK, that is also what @RegDwight said. BTW are you also active over there?

Martha

No, I waste enough time on EL&U already, I don't need yet another time sink.

Plus, I'm not really a writer per se.

Palimondo

@Martha (I may be pushing too far, but...) is this sentence correct?
"That's because he often wonders what is the weather like."

Templar

"No one would watch advertisements."
Is this sentence correct?

Martha

@Palimondo I'd reorder it slightly: That's because he often wonders what the weather is like.

@Templar Sounds fine to me.

Palimondo

When is it OK to omit "he" from sentence? Several sentences are in same context.

Martha

20:06

Can you be more specific?

Palimondo

I'm writing description about myself in third person. I'm trying to avoid repeating "He [does something]..." in every sentence. In Slovak (my native language) it is fine to omit the pronoun, as long as the subject remains the same.

I'm not sure about proper English rules regarding this.

Andy

@Martha Second "appreciates".

Martha

@Palimondo You mean like in a CV/resumé? It should be fine to omit the pronoun in a list-like context, even if you don't format it as a list. Good at [feature]. Can [ability]. Values [x, y, and z].

Palimondo

@Martha Not a CV. Just short blurb on my personal page.

Martha

@Palimondo Ok, but still, same sort of thing: it's obvious who the subject is, so you don't need to specify it with a pronoun.

Palimondo

20:18

@Martha Thank you very much for your help!

Martha

Note that this is a specific type of shorthand, and thus informal, or at least not appropriate for all contexts.

My grandmother spoke a bit of Slovak, by the way. :)

Palimondo

:-)

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…